Tag Archives: Progress

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Measuring Success

“Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
– Vince Lombardi

In DPS109 we measure success in many ways. We measure student academic performance, we measure staff culture, we measure all stakeholder satisfaction and we probe into special areas for discoveries about ways we can improve. This year we administered an all staff Culture Survey for the second year in a row. The all-district results will be shared at the September 15, 2014, school board meeting. Last year’s summary results were presented to the Board in October, 2013 and are linked here. This year’s culture survey will show levels of engagement and satisfaction with comparisons to last year’s results. Our aim is excellence and our aim is continuous improvement. Our teachers have high expectations for students, our students have high expectations for themselves, and we leverage our vast instructional resources to support learning and provide timely feedback.

Like our aims for student learning, growth, success, and excellence, one of the Big 5 in our District is Organizational Culture. We address Organizational Culture through multiple measures and through multiple behaviors. Behaviors include collaborative leadership, teamwork, presence in the schools and classrooms, and overall follow up and focus on morale. Measures include a number of surveys, observations, focus groups, and data analytics.

Last year we measured the climate and satisfaction levels of the community, staff, and for the students in the 1:1 pilot classrooms. Later this fall, in October, we will again administer climate surveys to our stakeholders – by comparing results from one year to another we can track trends in the data as well as data as compared to our goal setting and implementation. This year we are adding a section to the climate survey on special education programming. Our aim is to listen, hear, and act in the best interests of students, staff, and the community.

This year we are also working with Let’s Talk for ongoing climate/culture/satisfaction/concern collection. We encourage anyone to use Let’s Talk so that we can track trends of interest in the school district.

In addition, we are getting ready to measure the impact(s) of the 1:1 Roll Out. On September 15, 2014, and again on March 15, 2015, we are going to send out links to online survey instruments to all students, staff, and parents regarding the 1:1 roll out. With our research partner Bright Bytes, using an algorithm from MIT and Stanford researchers, we will measure and learn about impacts on learning, classroom, access, schools, and environment.

Please know, we are listening and we truly care about what you have to say! Please reach out, please share your thoughts about what we are doing well, in what areas we can improve, and if we ask you to complete a survey or two or three, please take the time to do so – we truly appreciate your input!!

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Innovation – Construction update – August 1st!

“Dreamers are mocked as impractical. The truth is they are the most practical, as their innovations lead to progress and a better way of life for all of us.”
– Robin S. Sharma

INNOVATION – that is the key word for this upcoming school year! Innovation through relationships, innovation through construction (as shown in the gallery of pictures attached to this post), innovation through innovative learning, innovation through our motto: ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER!

As we’ve shared in our blogs this summer, the leadership team in DPS109 is truly inspired and we gain a ton from our Board of Education’s vision and support, as well as the vision and support of our community. We also gain a ton from our innovative professional learning communities (PLC) and professional learning networks (PLN). Twitter is a huge source of pride, sharing, learning, connecting, and growth and innovation for our District. Anytime you are interested in discovering what we are up to, check out our District’s Hashtag on Twitter, #Engage109.

Through our local, regional, statewide, national, and international communications and contacts, our leaders (teachers, administrators, staff members, board members, parents, students, community members) LEARN and GROW through the connectedness of today’s reality … we live in a digital information age and we live in a digital information age. It’s revolutionary and transformative to live and work in an era of such growth and of such wonderment. Truly I wish for all of our stakeholders to leverage the power of the world resources at our fingertips in support of education, economic growth, and one day – world peace – that would be truly innovative!

Here in DPS109 I have shared many photos of work in progress at our school and district sites. This summer we have completed what many might have called un reasonable … this summer, under the able direction of our amazing Steve Kenesie (Director of Buildings & Grounds) we have accomplished a ton in support of our innovative teaching and learning. Now … since it’s August 1st and administrators like me tend to get a bit nervous about opening school … I have to acknowledge that we are not complete yet … but as you will see … thanks to Steve and the many crews, we are making PROGRESS and our aim will be realized – that aim is to open on time!

Of course I express appreciation and amazement! Of course I explain that our teachers at the affected schools will be inconvenienced this year in that they cannot prepare their classrooms and learning spaces in advance of the student arrival. Of course I support our principals (school “CEO”) in getting their respective school year off to a great start!

We will innovate PK-8 in all classrooms in all areas this year with respect to our Big 5:
1. Common Core State Standards – combining training, “maps”, the 1:1 transformative learning environment and subscriptions to multiple high quality services – we are ready for the Core!

2. Teacher evaluation – we believe in coaching, guiding, supporting, and growing all of our stakeholders, students, staff, faculty, administration, etc. We use an evaluation system based upon the Danielson Frameworks – we are ready for accountability and excellence!

3. Technology – 1:1 here we come! It will mean increased student engagement and increased student creativity, it might mean increased student achievement … we’ll measure for that! It will mean changed instructional practices – it’s our FIRST year at this – we’ll celebrate teacher risk-taking and experimentation – through failure and struggle will come success and transformation. We are ready for innovation!

4. Organizational Culture – we will re-administer an internal Culture survey on the first day of teacher work, we will administer a climate survey to all stakeholders, teachers, parents, students, those involved in our special education programming, we will survey and collect data on the impacts of the 1:1 programming, we will institute Let’s Talk! We are ready to listen, learn, plan, do, study, act, and improve – continuous improvement is our way!

5. Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education – we have implementing to do in many areas (science curriculum, instruction, facilities, exploratories: STEM & CMA, science “seminar for all” concept, study of world language programming and materials, fine arts and social emotional study and interventions). We are stepping up our game on every level!

Happy August 1st – we start back in a few weeks … please check out the photos in the gallery to see how construction progress is supporting our innovation.

Construction at Kipling School including new LED lighting

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Look at the new exploratory rooms (STEM lab/CMA lab) and science labs (still in progress)

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What do we do all summer? … More work in progress!

From the Superintendent’s Desk: What do we do all summer?

Published in the Deerfield Review

Michael Lubelfeld | Superintendent of DPS 109
June 27 11:19 a.m.

“What do you do all summer?” This is a question that parents and community members frequently ask school leaders. In District 109, as in many school districts, administrators work all year ensuring that all loose ends are closed to the last school year and that everyone and everything is ready to start the next year. Much of the work we do is behind the scenes: teacher and administrator training, planning, budget analysis, and completing state and federal reports. We know that parent and community questions don’t stop in the summer, so we keep the lines of communication open all year. All of our work is mission centered to provide learning environments and supports so that all children learn and succeed.

In District 109 this summer, a lot of the work we are doing is very visible, centering around maintenance, cleaning, safety, and very exciting construction. From safety and security enhancements, to energy efficiency work, to power supplies, to classroom construction, to exterior construction, to air quality work, we are improving our buildings to create better environments for teaching and learning. Here is an abbreviated breakdown of the projects at each school:

Caruso Middle School: Roof and tile work as well as learning space transformations, including the construction of STEM and communication media arts (CMA) labs.

Shepard Middle School: Transforming 50-year-old science classrooms into modern science laboratories, as well as STEM/CMA lab construction.

Walden/Kipling Elementary Schools: Completing air quality and air conditioning work so that all learning spaces throughout the District will be fully air conditioned.

All Schools: Generators installed to replace battery back-up systems, as well as emergency illumination. “Green” efforts, including installation of automated lighting controls and initial LED lighting work and other environmental enhancements.

It takes a great deal of talent to plan, manage and complete this amount and level of work. We are proud that our Department of Buildings & Grounds hires extremely hard working seasonal workers each summer — about 80 percent of whom are former District 109 students! Our fearless leader of Buildings & Grounds, Steve Kenesie, is a mentor, guide, inspiration, model and supervisor of these essential personnel who help with myriad tasks and projects both large scale and small scale. Summer work is quite intense, it takes more than “work,” it’s really also a story about motivation, heart and desire.

We are proud to complete all of this work with existing funds through many years of cost-cutting, operations management and fiscally responsible leadership of the Board of Education and the administration (past and present). The District’s mission is to engage, inspire, and empower all students, and with these significant improvements in life safety, health and wellness, instruction and facility maintenance, we using every resource available – including community support – to achieve our mission and to increase student learning.

Of course, at the end of the day (or in our case summer) we remember why we do all that we do – for the students!

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